I am an executive coach and management consultant who, for over 25 years, was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry. During that time I maintained a private psychotherapy practice in Boston where I used techniques of behavioral and psychodynamic psychiatry to treat patients who were professionally successful yet self-defeating. I use the same skill sets today to design interventions that foster the success of entrepreneurs and C-level executives, particularly those at risk for career burnout or engaging in self-defeating behaviors.
My interest in entrepreneurs dates back to 1986 when I realized that their spirit is the only naturally occurring inoculation against the disorders that cause successful people to self-destruct. I began writing about entrepreneurs in Inc. Magazine, and have taught courses on The Psychology of the Entrepreneurial Spirit at USC’s Marshall School of Business and UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Marissa Mayer Will Succeed IF She Learns From Carly Fiorina's Failure: An Open Letter To Ms. Mayer

I’m writing congratulate you on becoming the new chief executive officer of Yahoo, an achievement that confirms your stature not only as one of the most important women in IT, but as one of the most accomplished executives in America today.

I won’t insult you by saying how happy I am for you, personally: We’ve never met, and all I know about you is what I read after logging on to the Google home page (you designed, I believe) and searching. What I can say with all sincerity is that I am happy that by sending shock waves through the Tech industry as you did, by leaving the safe and incredibly familiar confines of Google (heck; you were the company’s 20th employee) for the risks and challenges inherent in trying to resuscitate a faded tech giant like Yahoo, you will inspire countless other women to follow in your footsteps.

For that reason I am incredibly concerned about your not taking footsteps in your new role that will cause you to end-up tripping, falling, and breaking the heel on one of your Jimmy Choo pumps. You see, Ms. Mayer, to succeed at Yahoo you will need much more than the myriad skills that made you invaluable to Google. What you’ll need is a healthy dose of fear and apprehension about erring in the manner that so many newly minted CEOs do— Chief among many ways, by believing favorable press clippings and dismissing negative ones as being symptomatic of jealousy or misogyny.

To help you avoid this mistake I’ve boiled-down much of what I’ve learned after studying what can go wrong when people succeed for more than 30 years, and selected three (3) of the most important lessons for you to consider. Before you do, take comfort in the fact that men self-destruct as a consequence of success far more regularly than women, so the odds of making it are in your favor. Unfortunately, while women are resistant to hubris and other success-killing emotional reactions to success, they are not immune to it: Think Leona Helmsley, Martha Stewart, and Carly Fiorina, if you’re tempted to ignore the advice that follows.

Long before Carly Fiorina was booted from HP I wrote an article predicting that she would fail. My reason for doing so was that simply I observed how she rode into town, declared, “I’m the new sheriff, and then exploited the legacies of Professors Hewlett and Packard as well as their iconic garage, all of which resulted in her enraging most of HPs employees. Ok; Ok; she cut salaries and fired 7,000 people too. But did you know that when it was disclosed that Fiorina was fired folks at one of the company’s facilities handed out Hostess Ding Dongs to announce, “The witch is dead”? Cheapskates don’t engender that kind of enmity; hubristic people do.

I’ve read that in conjunction with your appointment you announced you want your predecessor, interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, to remain on board. Great! Do the same sort of “Big Tent” gestures every time you can. You helped build “the Google way” but that doesn’t mean you fully comprehend “the Yahoo way” just yet. Carly Fiorina lost the job of a lifetime because she presumed either that she knew “the HP way” or that it didn’t matter. ‘Nuff said?

You Did Super Work At Google; You Are NOT Superwoman.

It’s impossible for me to list how many how many missteps Carly Fiorina made over the objections of gray beards at HP prior to her firing, but as one of Silicon Valley’s most connected cognoscenti I’m sure you know of all them. Then, again, Fiorina’s errors are not what concern me; I care about the attitude that drove her to commit them. From what I read, during all of the Fiorina years at HP, the stench of an imperious attitude emanated from the corner office. It was that attitude, not human error, which brought Ms. Fiorina crashing down. Anyone will get a Mulligan just by asking after making a good-faith mistake. No one is forgiven for exhibiting hubris.

Why should you care about this? Because press reports about your appointment have suggested that many smart people at Yahoo believe you can turn things around simply through sheer force of will, your charismatic charm, your Grace Kelly-like looks, or your status as a former Google executive. I cannot say with certainty what Carly Fiorina believed when she came to HP, but I would die of shock were it no exactly the same sort of ego-inflating stuff folks say about you, and Lord knows it went to her head.

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